December

Time to wrap things up!
  1. Keep yourself healthy! While you were home for Thanksgiving, you probably caught up with friends and family who you haven’t seen in a while. You may also have inadvertently exchanged viruses that they’ve picked up from THEIR new college campus or from home to which you don’t (yet) have immunity. Take care of yourself.
  2. Start studying for Final Exams NOW! There really is very little time between Thanksgiving and Finals Week – this is when a beginning-of-the-semester plan to study a little bit every day will pay off!
  3. Think about next summer. Do you want to apply for summer internships or jobs? Do you need letters of recommendation from your professors? Is there paperwork that needs to be validated by the Registrar’s Office? (common for Federally-funded summer research programs and internships). Find out what you need now, and get some of the leg work done.
  4. SHOW UP FOR YOUR FINALS! No, seriously. Some of them may be at a time that’s completely different than the time that your class met during the semester (like, 8 am). Set five alarms and three pop-up messages on your phone, if that’s what it’s going to take to get you there on time.
  5. If you are thinking about taking Winter Session classes, choose wisely. Realize that a course offered in Winter will have to meet the same standards as the same class offered in a Fall or Spring, but Winter session at UMBC is only THREE WEEKS LONG! Compared to a regular 15-week semester, you will meet more often and for longer periods of time, and will travel through material much more quickly. Know you own limitations when it comes to how quickly you grasp concepts and process information. But, hey…there are some fun Phys Ed options available only in Winter, like skiing and ice skating!

Celebrate the successful completion of your first semester at UMBC!

Download the Five Things To Do in December checklist here.